


If you want the sun, I will paint the face of my night sky yellow

by TheBookOfPhini



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Getting Together, Iruma Miu Being Iruma Miu, Kissing, M/M, No Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 16:22:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14793905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBookOfPhini/pseuds/TheBookOfPhini
Summary: Desperate times call for desperate measures or Shuichi tries to keep up with some new habits one of his classmates shows during their time together.





	1. Facing the sun

**Author's Note:**

> Hello to everybody! I finally convinced myself to post something. This short story developed while I started to write another one, which may also be published. But I decided to post this first, since it's a special occasion for me!  
> This work happens to hold many firsts for me: like my first ever published story (I mean I already had some in my mind but I never published any), also my first attempt of an ‘One-shot’ (... and my first finished story, because all other stories I thought of turned out to be slightly longer and I’m really good at procrastinating) and also it’s my first fan-fiction ever (not the first work I started, but the first were I actually write from the point of view from an already existing character, so for sure it’s probably somewhat OOC).  
> Besides I know my writing skills aren’t the best, especially since English isn’t my native language. I’m also often told that I do have a special way of formulating sentences even in my native language, so I don’t know how this will turn out. Still I wanted to share the story and hope you’ll enjoy reading it, because that’s all a writer wants ;)

The need to rest and relax was overwhelming, wrapping around me like a warm and heavy coat. The comfortable feeling and the darkness that came with it brought me to the limit to nearly fall into a deep slumber.

It wasn’t until someone forcefully started to drag me out of this state of mind, that the soothing darkness was torn away from me. “Hey wake up!” a melodious feminine voice shouted, while shaking me desperately. “I need your help!”

I opened my eyes reluctantly, not willing to give up so easily, but the damage was already done and my - _definitely not sleeping_ \- mind was now wide awake. When I was able to see more of my surroundings, due to my eyes getting adjusted to the blinding light, all I could make out was a smiling face enclosed by long straw-blond hair.

“Akamatsu-san?” I said more out of still lingering irritation than too gain an answer. I mean, I already knew it was her.

“Sleeping in the library again Saihara-kun?” she grinned.

Exactly knowing that there was no point in lying I said: “I was only a bit out of it. If I had truly slept I hadn’t respond that fast.” I finally decided to rise from my _not sleeping_ position on the floor and grabbed the book, which also had _not_ fallen of off me while I was out cold.

“Yeah sure,” she answered. “That’s why you totally noticed when someone was drawing on your cheek, while _not_ asleep.”

What was she talking about? She had to be lying, had she not? No way had I a childish drawing on my skin. Probably Kaede only wanted to tease me because I hadn’t noticed her when she was entering the library and first paid attention to her after being shaken.

“Drawing?” I asked pensive.

Kaede tilted her head a bit and gave me a sheepish smile: “It looks really cute you know.”

“Cute-!?”

She giggled and grabbed my wrist to pull me forward: “But that’s not why I woke you up! I need your help! Please come with me!”

“Eh? If I really have something on my cheek I should wash my face first!” I struggled. All I had on my mind was that probably some really dumb drawing could be on my cheek for everyone to see and make fun of. No way would I go through the whole school to Kaedes lab with _that_ still exposed on my skin. It seemed like Kaede had other plans, though.

“No time for that!” she declared, while pulling me out of the library. “You can wash it off afterwards!”

If I interpreted Kaedes words right it seemed that there truly was something on my cheek, which only made my want to hide and get rid of it stronger. “Ah! Akamatsu-san can you at least tell me what it is?”

There was no need for her to do so. While being dragged through the hallways of the school, I got a glimpse of my face in a window and what met me was a heart covering half of my cheek. Something was written in it but I couldn’t quite make out the correct shape of the letter. To make it even worse my tormentor had added lines, looking like sunbeams, which surrounded the upper side of the heart, while the lower had a pearl underneath the tip.

Wow great, _really_ great. To top it all Kaede was dragging me, looking like that, around the whole school. My only luck was that most of the students were already gone, due to most of the afternoon lessons were over, so the hallways turned out to be nearly empty.

The moment I thought about having luck for once, of course Kaito and Maki had to show up. I gave them a simply ‘Hello’ with a smile but being immediately dragged further by Kaede. She must really have something very important on her mind. Finally the music lab came in sight.

While thinking it could have been worse, with more students seeing me, I really should have known that this wasn’t the end. I mean it’s me, nothing ever went that smoothly. So with the door already in sight two students who I definitely didn’t want to see me like this, especially one of them, came around.

Finally and to my utter delight we passed the threshold of her lab. She closed the doors behind us, but I still could hear the laughter of Amami Rantaro and Ouma Kokichi. But if I had thought her lab was a shelter I was proven wrong merely a few seconds after entering. Did I really expect anything else?

“Heiwo you two! Ah what has Shuichi-chan on his cheek?” the girl with more colors in her hair than anything else, which was also bound into two horns, Mioda Ibuki, asked. While she was looking confused from afar, the other person present, a girl with long dark blue hair called Maizono Sayaka was approaching me to examine the drawing on my cheek.

“Hey Akamatsu-chan did you mark him as your own?” she asked, while a gleeful smile spread over her face. What did she mean with that statement!? I definitely should have gone to the bathroom before letting Kaede drag me here.

“Huh-?” I really wanted answers but all I got out of my mouth was a confused sound.

But Sayaka was kind enough to finally let me into the last mystery of the doodle on my cheek. “See the heart has a neatly curved ‘K’ written in it,” she explained.

“It wasn’t me!” Kaede declared before carrying me along to the storage room, where we could finally speak in private.

“So what is so important to you to justify dragging me through the whole school?” I asked. My curiosity winning over the want to scold her for not letting me wash off the drawing or simply asking if I had time at all. I had to admit being asleep in the library wasn’t helping the latter.

“I need your help.”

“Yeah. You already said that,” I answered ignoring the gaze from a pouting Kaede.

“So what do you need me for?” I gave in. It was probably better to get it over with, because I was starting to become hungry and the walk home would at least take 15 minutes, not including cooking time. For I would surely be the first one back home, because my uncle tended to work until late afternoon, I mostly were the one in charge of making dinner.

“I need you to investigate one of our classmates!” she stated cheerful.

“What-!?”

“I already tried the whole damn week to signal you that I need your help! But you being your dump self didn’t get a simple hint. You sure you want to become a detective?”

Wait... So that was why Kaede was harassing me the whole week? It was true she had spend more time with me over the last few days, but what were the hints she was speaking about? I had definitely missed something there.

I sighed loudly. “So who do you want me to investigate?”

Instead of a quick answer her face grew a deep shade of magenta, fitting perfectly to her eyes... _Oh_. So _that_ was what she was rambling about the whole week, asking stupid questions about how I see our classmates and if I thought they liked her and what she could do if she want more attention from a specific one... Okay yeah, maybe that last one should have given away her intentions. I definitely should have seen it coming.

Considering our background story it wasn’t a surprise that she came to me to speak about a crush she has. When we first met at the beginning of our school time together we had felt some kind of attraction towards each other, so we decided to give it a try. We shared a first date, a first kiss, but in the end we both agreed that what we felt was more of a best friend relationship than anything else. We kept our experience for ourselves and became even closer friends. So no surprise here that Kaede trusted me enough to tell me who she had fallen for.

Still there was one thought that bothered me: Why did Kaede think that I could be of any _help_ to her in such a matter!? It’s not like I’m an expert in such things. More like the opposite. To tell the truth: the “try” Kaede and I had shared was all I could show concerning the matter of relationships.

“...” she stayed silent, still blushing hard.

“Really?” I asked her. “You sure need to tell me if you want my help. I mean I have absolutely no idea why you’re asking me of all the people possible and probably way better to help.”

“I need you to find out more about them, what they like, what are their favorites and such things so I can make myself more present with gifts and... Ah I don’t know! I simply need help.” She drew her arms defeated into the air before letting them fall back limb to her sides.

“But Akamatsu-san... why me?”

“She is... she is not a very extroverted person about herself. So I need your detective skills!” she pleaded. “But don’t worry for further relationship advice I will ask someone else... Maybe Harukawa-san?... Oh no... better Momota-kun... or someone completely different... I need to think that over again...” Upon speaking the last words her voice started to trailed off.

Meanwhile my mind was working on solving the mystery. From the way Kaede had acted around her, the words she had chosen to give me hints and the way she talked right now, I came to a conclusion on which of our classmates she had a crush.

“So... Tojo-san then?”

The blush being there again even a shade darker, Kaede simply choose to nod, not able to say anything else.

“I will see what I can find out to help you choose the right gifts.”

After hearing my acceptance Kaede threw herself onto me, greeting me with a hug and a big smile: “Thank you!”

I was grateful when I was finally being able to go home and eat. The only thing I had to do before was rubbing the heart of my cheek. It took a great amount of soap to get the drawing not to be visible anymore. Still, under my reddish and irritated skin, a small hint of the drawing that had been there was left.

\---

I didn’t found much information about Kirumis likes in the next days, but the few things I could assume by combining what information I gathered, was enough to make Kaede happy. Now the rest was on her.

After fulfilling my task for my friend I decided I would shut myself up in the detectives’ lab the next day. Kyouko Kirigiri, the other Ultimate Detective, didn’t show up often so it was mostly I, the bookshelves and a warming fireplace.

I was sitting on the armchair next to the fireplace, having finished all classes for today, and was about to bury myself in a mystery novel when a sharp knock on the door disturbed my peace. Who would come here especially at that time of day? Most of my classmates still had some of their personal classes or had gone to the cafeteria for lunch. I also had an invitation for the latter but didn’t feel like it today. So maybe it was Kaito telling me that lunch was important and drag me with him?

I reluctantly laid the book down on the little table next to the armchair and rose to an upright position. Without hesitation I went over to the door and opened it only to reveal that my interruption came in form of Kaede!?

“Hi,” I said slightly irritated because I thought she would be busy today. Hopefully everything was fine and nothing had gone wrong with her crush. I wasn’t good in comforting miserable people, especially not if it was related to heart matters. But there was no option someone would reject such a cheerful and lovely person like Kaede, or was it?

“Hey... Saihara-kun!” she said happily. Judging from the big smile on her face I could conclude nothing bad had happened, still something about her bothered me.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, while she was letting herself in. With a turnaround she sunk down into one of the two armchairs, her eyes staying the whole time fixated on me. Somehow that irritated me even more.

“Sure!” she answered while trying to get a look at the book cover to find out what I had been done before. “But I thought it would be nice if we could go and grab some ice cream? Don’t you think? It’s really _hot_ outside for October.”

She played with the fabric ends of a magenta rose that was attached to her sweater. This one was new, was it? I hadn’t seen it before. But that thought doesn’t distract me from what she had said previously. There was no reason for saying no, probably she wanted to talk to me again, obviously thirsty for more information. But I would have thought she liked to spend the lunchtime with Kirumi? She could have talked to me in the afternoon before heading home...

“Yeah. If you want to... sure,” I said with wariness.

“I’d love too!” she answered and clung to my arm, looking up to me with sparkling eyes.

To tell the obvious this was rather strange and I had no idea what had gotten into Kaede. But to find the truth I needed to play along with her antics.

We headed off to a little ice cafe next to our campus. Kaede was somewhat quiet while we were walking. Again I had a strange feeling about the whole situation. To break the awkward situation we were actually in I tried to find out more about Kaedes initial plans for going on a break like that with me.

“How is your plan working out?” I asked her holding the question vague on purpose.

She seemed to think about that for a moment, before declaring cheerfully: “No need to break your head about that Saihara-kun. Everything is fine, but right now we should concentrate on getting our ice cream.”

“But were my hints helpful?” he tried again, not letting the topic being dropped so easily. “Or hadn’t you a chance to find it out until now?”

“I already told you! There’s nothing for you to worry about!” she said with determination, making it clear that she didn’t want to answer any of my questions concerning this topic.

Despite her firmness I still wanted to ask her again, this time maybe a more specific question. But I never reached the point in actually formulating sentences, because by the time the thought crossed my mind Kaede showed me a scary face, that told me if I asked anything else I would definitely regret it. A thick tension was rising between us afterwards.

To my utter delight we had finally reached the ice cafe. When we ordered our ice cream the next thing happened that made me pause. Kaedes ordered ice cream was more a mountain of different fruit ice cream types, which were topped with rainbow colored popping candy. Definitely not Kaedes normal choice, which would be vanilla ice cream with cream.

I eyed her suspiciously while eating my chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. What was going on with her today? I argued internally if I should mention it or not.

“Is something wrong?” she asked. Obviously she had caught me starring and analyzing her ice cream choice. “I felt like trying something new today. Would you be happier if I ordered every time the same thing? Wouldn’t that be quite boring?”

I sighed. Maybe Kaede was right. I was thinking too much about every detail, only achieving to make our time together uncomfortable. For the sake of our contentment I decided to stop over-thinking for now and concentrate on the moment. So I put my assumptions aside and focused on the girl sitting in front of me.

“I’m sorry,” I said feeling the necessity to tell her. “I think I’m a bit out of it today. I didn’t mean to impute anything.”

“Don’t stress yourself too much Saihara-kun. I’m not offended. How about we forget the last half an hour and enjoy the rest of the time we have left before my afternoon classes start?” she answered, giving me one of her big and reassuring smiles.

My eye twitched. I opened my mouth but I stopped myself from saying anything remembering the promise we made only a few seconds ago. But the question was nagging on me trying to get out so I could receive an answer from Kaede. But if I asked her now she would be mad at me for sure... I didn’t know what to do, all I could think of was: _Since when did Kaede have afternoon classes on Wednesday?_ Despite sharing most of our classes every one of my classmates had a few more individual subjects to attend to.

I shut my mouth and pressed my lips together stopping me from saying anything that would fetch back the strange tension from before. Fortunately Kaede saved the situation in starting a new conversation letting me forget her odd behavior.

“So how was your day until now?” she asked still smiling. “You truly missed something while hiding in your lab during noon break.”

I looked at her with a puzzled expression on my face. “What happened?”

Her eyes sparkled with glee. “You definitely missed the i... Momota-kun going crazy over his soup.”

That sounded quite strange. So the one time I wasn’t going with Kaito and Maki to the cafeteria they had to pull something crazy. But how could someone go crazy over soup? And why was he even eating soup? Kaito was normally the one who preferred a plate full of food and not being satisfied with a bowl of ‘flavored water’ like he called it.

My face must have shown how irritated I was because Kaede started to chuckle and pursued her story: “When I fetched me something to eat I overheard a conversation between Momota-kun and Harukawa-san. It seems like Harukawa-san wasn’t fond of him having a crammed plate again, that’s why the both of them had a little argument. I could only catch a few words like: ‘gained weight’, ‘neglected training’ and ‘eat healthier’ and five minutes later Momota-kun was sitting on the table with only a bowl of soup.”

She paused due to her laughter making it impossible for her to speak. It took quite some time until she had composed herself again and picked the story up where she had left it: “But the best is yet to come! See, due to it being nearly the end of October the kitchen staff thought it would be funny to serve themed soup!... I can tell you Momota-kun screamed like a little girl when a ghost shaped noodle was facing him from his spoon. The whole... Haha...” At this point Kaede was desperately trying to hold back her laughter, the memory coming back to her, and failing completely. He had never seen her laugh that freely especially over someone else misery. Though he couldn’t deny that he would have loved to see Kaito freak out over a ghost shaped noodle.

“... And then... the whole cafeteria looked at him... Haha... and Harukawa-san who had seen why he freaked out laughed at him... _Yes she laughed_. You can’t imagine how miserable Momota-kun looked like, especially when Harukawa-san asked him how it was possible to freak out over a ghost shaped noodle loud enough for all the students around them to hear.”

I couldn’t hide the smile forming on my face. It was no hidden fact how much Kaito was afraid of ghosts. He was even hiding from the dressed up people on Halloween. Not that he would ever admit it. Most times he claimed he was feeling a sudden nausea in his stomach, by chance every time at the 31th of October.

“Seemed like I really missed a funny lunch,” I said making a mental note to be especially nice to Kaito at Halloween, since he already embarrassed himself in front of a great amount of students.

From there on every suspicion on any odd behavior coming from Kaede was erased from my mind leaving only a comfortable feeling while chatting more.

After we finished our ice cream we decided to take the long way through a nearby park to go back to school since we still had some time. We continued our light chatter from before filling the way back with laughter and interesting new insights. When the school building came into view I felt somewhat sad, because it had been a considerable amount of time since I last experienced such a light together with Kaede or anyone else for the matter. On late occasions it mostly consisted of Kaedes crush or upcoming piano appearances or concerning Kaitos and Makis account, help with school exams or even worse being the third wheel during their activities together. Of course I liked both of them but no one could tell me that being the single one trailing behind a pair every time was fine with them. It really seemed a long time ago since Kaito and I had done something without Maki being there too.

Upon passing the entrance hall Kaede insisted on walking me back to my lab. But nothing that had happened today could have prepared me for what was occurring after entering the room. Taking me by surprise she grabbed my arms and pinned me against the wall, next to the door, with a surprisingly strong grip. Without saying another word Kaede was pressing her lips against mine.

_Wait what!? Kaede was kissing me!?_


	2. Facing the moon

_... Kaede was kissing me!?_

I was so confused and lost in the moment that I didn’t fight against the kiss. I felt a soft bite on my lower lip and before I even could think more of it I had opened my mouth slightly in reflex, granting her tongue entry into my mouth.

The heat of the kiss and the light-headedness that came with it were clouding my thoughts leaving my body weak and unable to act in any kind of way. I had never felt like this before. _This doesn’t feel like kissing Kaede, like it felt back then... instead everything from her lips to her tongue felt so sweet like I had eaten way too much sugar._

When we finally pulled apart due to the need of air, Kaede took the chance and run away leaving me panting and alone. I leaned against the wall of the lab still stunned. What had happened just now? Kaede had kissed me and then run away?

Kaede... _no wait_. I let my finger rest on my lips. This definitely hadn’t felt like kissing Kaede. It didn’t feel the same like the first time we had kissed! Back then I had only felt a short rise of caring feelings towards her, but now... my mind was still dazed from the deep kiss, while my heart refused to slow down and I _absolutely not_ wanted to kiss this person again.

Thinking about it, not only were the feelings different but also the lips had felt somewhat thinner and simultaneously softer than Kaedes. Does this mean the girl coming to my lab, looking like Kaede, speaking like Kaede... it wasn’t her? But who could it have been otherwise? Who would do that? Every detail from before that hadn’t fit to Kaedes normal personality and habits came to my mind.

 _I definitely need to investigate this,_ I thought, two names already coming to my mind. I needed to know with whom I had the date(?) and who made me feel like this... Still a bit light-hearted I went to my first suspect.

\---

I found her in her lab like I had predicted. I knocked and immediately heard someone running over and opening door, looking a bit startled upon seeing me.

“Uh. Hello Saihara-kun. It’s not often that you came to my lab.”

“I... Uhm wanted to ask you a question Shirogane-san,” I said careful. Maybe she wouldn’t tell me a thing but there was still the opportunity I could find a clue in her lab. “May I come in?”

“Yes, sure,” she answered and stepped aside for me to enter. I stepped over to a large counter, where she had put down her materials to have a better overview over them, and sat down on a chair next to it.

“You don’t happen to make cosplay costumes of some of our classmates?”

Yes with that question I had definitely earned the prize of the densest way to question a suspect during an interrogation. I mean I should be better at getting information out of a person without saying right away what I want. For what I’m a detective!? Probably it would be easier if it was a murder case or a robbery and not... _that._

“Of our classmates?” she repeated slowly, as if considering what to say. “You should know by now Saihara-kun that I don’t cosplay living people. So why would I make costumes of our classmates?”

“Maybe for someone else?” I tried again but could already tell she wasn’t having any of this. I had screwed up with my first blunt question. Even if I could see the lie in her eyes she wouldn’t tell me anything. But yes, I was now nearly 100% sure that she had something to do with it.

“Saihara-kun I didn’t make any cosplay costumes of our classmates, not for me and not for anybody else,” she said with a calm voice. “If that's all you wanted to ask, maybe you could go now? I don’t want to throw you out but I’m meeting up with someone else in a few minutes.”

I nodded and rose up from my seat, only for my gaze to fall on a hairpin, with a music note attached to it, on the counter. Is this from Kaede or from... _Kaede_? My mind told me that there would be no reason for one of the real Kaedes hairpins to be here, so it had to be from the fake(?) one. While Tsumugi was two feet ahead of me, to show me out of her room, with her back turned to me I grabbed the mysterious hairpin and hide it in my pocket.

When the door closed behind me I immediately went in the direction of my next aim. It was more difficult to find her, because for once she wasn’t in her lab. I found her outside school sitting with Kiibo on a table and eating ice cream and sweets, while the robot was talking to her.

“Hello,” I greeted both of them upon coming near their table.

“Hello Saihara-kun.”

“Hi Suckhara!”

“...!”

I sighed. This conversation had already arrived at the point where I wanted to turn around and simply go away without another word. But what had I expected, this was Miu after all.   

“I...” was the furthest I came until I was again interrupted by Mius loud mouth. “Oh! So do you want something from the genius girl inventor!? Spit it out Shyhara, my fuckin’ time is precious!”

“You should consider the possibility that he wanted to talk to me?” Kiibo offered, but I shook my head, stealing me for a further conversation with Miu. “I’m sorry Kiibo but I really wanted to ask Iruma-san something.”

“Out with it then!” the girl shouted while still stuffing food in her mouth and looking not really interested in the conversation.

“I wanted to ask you if it would be possible for you to make a... voice-changer?” And here it was again, the most stupid question he could have asked. “And if it is possible what do you need to fake the voice of a specific person?”

“Of course a genius like me can do such a simple thing! All you need is a record of a few spoken sentences of the person you want to imitate. That’s no damn challenge for my wonderful brain!”

Perfect. This was all I wanted to know. After all it wouldn’t have been impossible to create a perfect copy of Kaede even with the right voice. This confirmed most of my assumptions.

“Thank yo...”

“... But why the hell are all of you suddenly after such a thing. A few days ago Shirogane-san asked me the exact same! You two don’t plan something stupid do you?” she asked a strange look on her face.

“No! Of course not! I- I only wanted to ask if it is possible. I’m not sure I will need it but thanks for your answer,” I said way too fast.

“Fine! But if you want me to make a voice-changer for you too, you better have something fuckin’ good to give me in return!”

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind Iruma-san! Thank you,” I said again, going as fast away from the pair as I was capable and on the other side wouldn’t look rude.

Judging from what I had heard it seemed way too easy for someone to create a copy of someone else with the help of my classmates.

Even if I had only found the hairpin in Tsumugis lab and gotten nothing else out of her, the fact that she had also asked Miu for a voice-changer made her even more suspicious. My investigation had brought me to the point where I was now 100% sure that this hadn’t been Kaede and that Tsumugi and Miu were directly involved in creating a perfect copy of the original Kaede.

_But for heaven’s sake, why!?_

Despite my internal scream for why someone would do that, another unanswered question got itself into the foreground... _Who was it then? And how could I find out?_ Tsumugi obviously knew, but she wouldn’t tell me and Miu had only intervened with Tsumugi...

The shortest and most outgoing act would simply be kissing all of my suspects and finding out who was the culprit under them. And _that_ would definitely be the act I would never ever carry out. But what else? I desperately needed a hint.

Considering they gained the help from Tsumugi and Miu to create a copy of one of our classmates I was pretty sure they were close. Tsumugi wouldn’t have done such a thing for a stranger especially if it involved copying Kaede. Based on this... was it a classmate or a good friend of Tsumugi? My intuition told me that it had to be a classmate... but _who_!?

There weren’t many people who I thought would show me that kind of affection. Maybe it was just a silly prank, to make me think Kaede would be interested in me? Maybe some trick to get us together? It wasn't that farfetched, thinking that they were pretty close and most of the class didn’t know that they already had a background-history.

Following this train of thoughts I found my main suspect. _He_ would surely pull such a prank only to make me look like an idiot and let me suffer... Also the ice cream choice and the afternoon classes would fit...

I didn’t know what I should feel after the realization hit me. If it truly had been him what does that mean for me? My thoughts wandered back to the kiss and the _feelings_ I had during it. I vigorously shook my head.

 _No don’t try to think too much about it. First, it was only a prank to irritate you, nothing more and second, you don’t even know for sure he had something to do with it after all._ But I couldn’t let it slip away like this.

The most important question for now was to find out if it had been him or not. Maybe for once he had nothing to do with it after all? Thinking about it I found out that that would make me even more anxious.

_So do I want it to be him?_

It wasn’t helpful either, that thinking it could be him made my stomach flatter. When along his stupid teasing did I began to respond and start growing feelings for the smaller boy? And why does it hurt that, knowing him, all of it could only be a bad joke to annoy me. I felt a little heartbroken, thinking that he definitely didn’t like me that way, that all of it was just dump teasing to make fun of me.

_But I want to kiss those lips again... I couldn’t like him like that, could I?_

_Who am I kidding...  
_

I needed, now more than ever, to find out who my fake Kaede was. But if it truly was him there was no way he would tell the truth about it easily, so I began to think about a plan to trick him into revealing the truth.

\---

Next Friday was a school festival to celebrate Halloween, so if I wanted my plan to take action it would be there. Nearly everyone of our class would be there. So for once I decided to attend one of those festivals. Giving my best in dressing and styling I headed back to the school in the evening. Still I stuck with normal clothing and not a costume.

Upon arriving at the festival I saw that the other students were divided in half between wearing costumes and normal clothing. But what surprised me most was that Maki had somehow managed to convince Kaito to come too. Nonetheless he seemed really uncomfortable and didn’t leave Makis side for a second.

I stared at the hairpin. The plan had already formed in my mind, but... _Come on you can do it! There is nothing to lose. If it wasn’t him then he wouldn’t think anything of it! You only need to trick him into revealing the truth! He would never admit it with words so you have to try with actions._

I had stared at the stupid hairpin for way to many minutes still trying to convince me to go through with my plan. Nothing could go wrong, could it? I sighed and pocketed the hairpin before going over to the group of my friends. _Now I only need a good moment to put it in his hair..._

My chance came when our group decided to get some food and drinks. Much to my advance it turned out to be a bit windy. So while trying to eat his food every now and then his hair kept being blown in his face and disturbed him. Every time he had to put down his food and stuck it back behind his ear to return to eating. The next time it happened I was quick by his side. He looked really annoyed by now and sighed loudly.

“Here let me help you,” I said taking the hairpin and putting his front hair back with it, so it wouldn’t be blown again in his face by the wind.

“Huh?” He looked up seemingly surprised by my sudden action. Confusion only shown for the matter of a second in his face before it was replaced by a huge grin. “Searching for a reason to touch me my beloved Saihara-chan? Are you that desperate?”

I couldn’t stop myself from blushing madly. “I-I... No! I was only trying to help you Ouma-kun,” I started to explain my action, despite knowing he said those words only to tease me. “I saw you having trouble eating while your hair was constantly blown in your face. So I wanted to help.”

“That’s why you keep hairpins with you on a school festival?”

I sighed loudly and decided to go back to my abandoned food. Right now there was nothing else to do and pressing the conversation any further wouldn’t lead to anything,

After all I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to be there the moment he discovered what hairpin I had put into his hair. I’m also not sure if I could handle it if my deductions were wrong and it wasn’t him all along. _And even worse_ , another voice kept saying in my mind, _I wasn’t sure what I would do if there’s no more to it than to tease and humiliate me._

During the festival our group changed place after place, having fun spending time together. There was mostly light chatter between us, that’s why I didn’t talk too much with Kokichi after I put the pin in his hair. But I didn’t miss the fact that he let it stay in his black-purple hair even after he finished eating. I couldn’t deny the fact that it looked rather cute having his hair tied back like this.

When it was nearly time for fireworks, our group did split apart, which meant that mostly the pairs of the group, like Kaito and Maki and also Himiko and Tenko were sitting down on the dry grass waiting for the magic to lighten up the night sky. I chose a place next to Kaito and Maki, but not too close to disturb them.

From my place I could see someone walk behind the mass of waiting people. It turned out to be Kaede, who, following her chosen path, was trying to approach Kirumi. But somehow she stopped next to Kokichi and said something to him, all while having a rather confused look on her face. Then her finger trailed up to her hair, brushing over her hairpins. Obviously she was counting them and the result was leaving her even more confused. She said something else to Kokichi, then shook her head and went back to her first goal, finding Kirumi.

Meanwhile Kokichi was grabbing the hairpin and taking it out of his hair to look at it. It leaves him stunned for a few seconds. Due to him being faced away from me I couldn’t see the expression on his face. This was unless he suddenly turned around to look in my direction, which made me quickly turn my gaze away, hoping he hadn’t caught me starring.

Not a minute later a small figure was dropping next to me in the grass. All I hoped for in that moment was that he wasn’t able to hear my fast heartbeat, which sounded like me being near a heart attack in my ears.

None of us said anything at first, so we sat quiet together for some time. This should have calmed me down but it turned out to be the opposite. When I was sure I couldn’t stand the silence any longer and I made me ready to say something, Kokichi finally spoke up: “Ah man you caught me there! No point in lying... But it seemed like you didn’t make any good use of it, after all!” He played with the hairpin in his hand.

So does that mean it had been him? It had to be since he simply admitted it! My heart jolted from the thought. But how he talked about the whole thing irritated me more and more.

“What are you talking about?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

“There I go out of my way to help you Saihara-chan, seeing that you and Kaede were nearly inseparable last week, but neither of you seemed capable of taking the initiative, I thought I should do something. Buuut you were quite too dense to take the hint! If you want to have a girlfriend sometime you should eventually ask her out! Elsewise you will stay forever alone. I thought my little push would help you approach her finally like you want but nooo... you’re too stupid to do so,” he answered, all the while a not readable expression on his face.

Only for one short moment I believed I saw something else in his eyes. Was he jealous because I had spent a lot of time with Kaede? No this couldn’t be it, could it?

More likely he did it because he thought that I liked Kaede and wanted to date her. I wasn’t sure what to make of that. It stung, because the most obvious reason for him to act like that was to mess with Kaede and me and on the best case to bring us together. But it also meant that he wasn’t interested in me at all.

 _Does he see Kaede and me as a good pair?_ That thought hurt.

“I don’t want to date Kaede,” I mumbled.

“Don’t lie to me Saihara-chan!” he demanded with a small - _and cute_ \- pout.

“That’s not a lie! I admit we tried at the beginning of our school time together, but we realized that we only wanted to be friends.”

He stared at me without saying anything. If I still would wear my hat I would have pulled it down even further to hide from Kokichis intensive gaze.

“A-And to tell the truth,” I started not knowing if this was the right thing to do, but unable to turn back now, “I knew from the beginning that something was off and after that odd choice of ice cream, the mention of afternoon classes Kaede doesn’t have normally and...” I paused steeling myself to say the next words before I continued in a shaking voice, “... and after the k-kiss... I definitely knew that it wasn’t Kaede who I had spent time with.”

Kokichi still stared at me with a blank expression on his face.

“S-So I investigated Shirogane-san and Iruma-san, who I thought were the most possible persons involved in creating a cosplay of someone... And collecting all the clues leads me to well... now.”

I finally lost my voice and remained still, not knowing what to say else. But this time it was Kokichi speaking. Obviously he had composed himself, because his blank expression was replaced by his usual mischievous grin. “Then tell me Saihara-chan,” he said in a dangerous low voice, “which one of us is the better kisser?”

“I-I didn’t feel anything while kissing Akamatsu-san,” I admitted.

_What!?_

Did I unintended tell him that I had felt something kissing him? I’m screwed. Oh god this became even more awkward for every second passing. Not long ago I had been really proud of the little trick I wanted to do, but now I asked in what I had gotten myself into. There was only one way out of it now.

“But even so that prank was a bit too severe, don’t you think? Going as far as playing Kaede to tease me... I-I think I should go now.”

No, this definitely didn’t go as well as I would have wished for. All I could do now was fleeing from the whole situation. But much to my surprise Kokichi was stopping me from running away by grabbing my wrist.

“Wait...”

I sat down again and focused my gaze on the grass.

“...”

He sighed. “I did it because I wanted to spend the day with you! Because you and Kaede were clinging together the whole week so I thought you would be more willing to spent time with her,” he declared sounding too honest for his own good, only to immediately retract it.

“But that’s a lie of course! I would never do something that stupid only to spend time with you!”

I looked up a bit and knowing Kokichi well enough I allowed myself to ignore his last sentence completely. “It was only because she needed my help in certain matters.”

“What?” he seemed irritated by my statement.

“That’s the reason why I spent so much time with her,” I explained.

“But... what certain matters?” he asked confused.

I nodded with my head to where I could see Kaede and Kirumi sitting next to each other.

“Wait whaaat-? Those two?”

I chuckled. “Kaede only needed a bit of help investigating her crush.”

“Whaaa,” I could already see the crocodile tears welling up in his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier! I totally made myself looking stupid!”

The firework finally started above us claiming our focus for the moment.

“Then do something about it,” I finally said bringing our focus back to each other.

“Huh?”

I can’t say that out loud. If he was only teasing me and I say it I will never be able to go to school again or see him again for the matter. But I can’t turn back now, this already is awkward...

_Damn it!_

I cursed and screamed internally and got even more anxious upon hearing the next words coming out of my mouth: “You could try to kiss me again, as yourself this time.”

I closed my eyes, but this doesn’t prevent me from feeling the deep blush rising on my cheeks nor to stop the upcoming panic attack. Oh god I was so stupid. Why did I say that out loud? Why, why, why...

While lost in my panic I felt something heavy on top of me which caused me to fall backwards into the grass. I yelped and opened my eyes to see sparkling purple eyes looking down at me illuminated from the colorful sparks of the firework, which did lighten up the night sky.

The next second I felt soft lips pressing against my own. I couldn’t quite hide back my joy. _He was kissing me again!_ And sure to it the same sensation like before was taking over my body. I felt him nibble onto my lower lip, but before I could react to his wish someone coughing badly next to us made us break apart.

With Kokichi still on top of me I looked to my right, only to be met with Kaito and Maki looking in our direction a shocked expression left on their faces.

“Is the gremlin harassing you?” Kaito asked, truly concerned.

“I can help get rid of him,” Maki offered.

“No!” I shouted more intense than I thought. I put myself into an upright position again, carefully not to shove Kokichi off of me and instead placing him in my lap while sitting again. “I-I...” _I’m at a complete loss of words due to my anxiety._

“You’re too late!” the small boy in my lap declared in a mischievous tone. “Saihara-chan is mine now~!”

I chuckled and kissed the back of his head, causing Kaito and Maki to gasp. I was pretty aware that there would be a ton of awkward questions I had to answer after the festival.

“That sounds quite possessive,” I told Kokichi, ignoring Kaito and Maki for the moment.

“I’m possessive!” the purple haired boy grinned. “That’s why I already marked you as mine before~!”

Upon hearing his words a deep realization hit me. “Wait... did _you_ draw that heart on my cheek?”

All I got as an answer was malicious laughter

“Nishishishi.”

What had I gotten myself into?

_How did I manage to fall in love with Ouma Kokichi of all people!?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “I still have an important question left.”  
> “What is it my beloved?”  
> “How did you manage to fit Kaedes size after all?”  
> “Whaaa, that’s mean Saihara-chan! But if you must know... the boots had insoles, which made me around 10 cm taller.”


End file.
